Reconstruction of the White Temple and ziggurat at Uruk

(ca. 3200-3000 BCE)

"Standard of Ur"

ca. 27C BCE

Represents six registers iin two sets of three.

One side depicts scenes of war, while the other shows peacetime activities such as banqueting and harvesting.

The box itself is inlaid with shell, lapis lazuli and red limestone. The original shape and purpose of the object is unknown.

Victory Stele of Naram-Sin (ca. 2300-2200 BCE)

This work stands nearly seven feet tall .

The grandson of Sargon I, Naram-Sin, now king, dominates the scene in hierarchical scale. He stands tall, weapons in hand, vanquishing the last of his enemies. Even the heavens, to which he is almost literally connected, seem to give their approval, as for the first time in Mesopotamia art a king is portrayed as a godlike figure. Again, the absolute power and position of the king pours forth from this work.

the Mesopotamian kingdom created under King Hammurabi

The next great empire to arise after the Babylonians, who themselves were defeated by the Hitites. As they were from the north, they had more stones to make art

Controlled much more than Mesopotamia

War = major part of life

A type of relief (carving) used by the Assyrians with a high, low degree 

The Assyrian artists accomplished this projection by sketching a design on a stone slab and then cutting away the background.

The Seated Gudea

ca. 2125-2110 BCE

Depicts the ruler Gudea, whose Summerian city of Langesh was the only to survive the Akkadians.

Stele with the Code of Hammurabi

(ca. 18C BCE)

Babylonian Empire

First written law code

Dying lioness relief from the Palace of Ashurbanipal ca. 7C BCE

Assyrian Relief

Shows hunt of a lion; killing the animal was thought to show courage, etc. of hunters (and king)

Animals = very artistic

604-562 BCE

Neo-Babylon King

Added a magnificant palace, ziggurat, and eight monumental arched gates to the city of Babylon (including Ishtar gate)

Persian ruler who conquered Babylon in 539 BCE

Persian Empire: Largest the world had ever seen

Home of the Persian kings

Built on a platform

No ziggurat as the Persians cheif God, the God of light, was worshipped outside

Featured a great palace

The great hall of the Persepolis Palace

Lined with 100, 40-ft stone columns with paired bulls as brackets for roof beams

Much of palace was later destroyed by Greeks

showed thousands of neatly arranged guards

the carvings actually had volumetric balance--not just background cut away as in previous reliefs

Ishtar Gate

Babylon

6C BCE

Dedicated to the Goddess Ishtar, diety of love and war

made of blazed brick

depicted 120 lions, sacred to Ishtar

Also had bulls for weather god Adad and dragons for principle diety Marduk

normally used for religious ceremonies

Paired bulls capital from Persepolis

5C BCE

found on the 100 stone columns in the apadana

stone beams

first columns found in Mesopotamia

Neo-Babylon

The second Babylon empire to arise after the demise of the Assyrian Empire

7C BCE

Major King: Nebuchadnezzar

529 BCE capture Babylon under Cyrus the Great

Largest empire the world had seen up to this point